The City of Helsinki is planning to make its sprawling Central Park into Finland's first urban national park, it announced in a press release on Thursday.

The City said it is aiming to submit the national park application to the Urban Environment Committee and then the City Board, "for decision-making sometime in 2026".

"The Ministry of the Environment will decide on approving the application. The establishment of a national urban park is governed by the Land Use and Building Act," the City's release explained.

According to the City, the aim of national urban parks is to "preserve and develop urban nature and the built cultural environment as extensive and unitary wholes, and to develop the green and recreation network of the area".

The Central Park extends some 10km from Töölö in the downtown, northward into Haltiala, near the Vantaa city line.

Depending on the location, the 1,000-hectare area features dense forest, twisting trails and broad vistas of farmland. It is a swathe of land that — with the exception of the central downtown area — divides the city with green space.

The affected neighbourhoods include Oulunkylä, Haaga, Kaarela, Laakso, Ruskeasuo, Tuomarinkylä, Töölö, Pasila, Alppiharju, Kallio, Kluuvi and Pakila.

The City said it looked into establishing a national park in 2017-2010, but the matter returned to the "drawing board" after a preliminary investigation phase.

It opened a resident survey about the effort on Thursday, to hear people's opinions about the things that should be preserved and what improvements could be made in the area. The survey will be open until 21 December.

So far, Finland has 41 national parks, all in rural areas.